[Business of Design] - Response 8: Support the Triple Bottom Line
I think one important area a designer can contribute to in a company’s financial discussions is being a champion for the triple bottom line. Traditionally, there has always been one “bottom line,” which is about the measurement of corporate profit and loss. However, it has only been recently gaining in acceptance that there are two other bottom lines, which measure responsibility toward people and the planet. Most designers are trained to take both of these things into account as the focus of their profession. It makes sense they can and should be advocates of social and environmental responsibility throughout the operations of a company.
In an age where global communication is instant, brands risk too much to not take these things into consideration. Designers are definitely in tune with brand, as well as user values and experience. They understand the implications of company decisions and that they will eventually go noticed by the public. Designers don’t underestimate their customers and their capacity to care. Upholding that trust is critical.
Where measuring profit and loss can be relatively easy, measuring responsibility toward people and the planet isn’t so much. Designers are used to solving problems where there are no clear answers, especially when tackling issues regarding people and the planet. Because of their experience and training, designers can actually provide that measure companies need.
[Business of Design] - Response 5: Keep it Fluid
Blog on why entrepreneurs or startup employees need to “keep it fluid” (as defined in Sull’s article).
In his article titled Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Donald N. Sull suggests an important concept to help entrepreneurs and startups construct and form their ideas, which he calls “keep it fluid.” Through his studies, Sull found that committing to a business model too early results in failure in almost every case. It’s important to realize that things can change and revisions must be possible in the light of new information (there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns). Being flexible or “fluid” early in the process allows a budding company to adapt and survive.
Sull cites in his article that the founders of ONSET Ventures, a venture capital firm who focuses on early-stage startups, discovered through a robust study of 300 startup successes and failures that those who succeeded underwent at least one major change before stabilizing.
![[Business of Design] - Response 4: Pitch
Blog on your most favorite and your least favorite pitch from “Eleven Startup Pitches”– tell us what specifically you like about your most favorite pitch and what you dislike about your least favorite.
My favorite pitch out the eleven was from the speaker for Apptentive. I thought he stated both the problem and his company’s solution clearly, and what it means for both the customer and the developer on the other side. He had a working prototype, and addressed concerns regarding ease of implementation as well as application across a broad range of popular operating systems. The idea itself is strong because it can provide a direct connection between the user and the developer within any application. That means the user doesn’t have to spend extra time going to a website for contact/support information, or perhaps writing a critical review that may or may not be seen by the developer.
My least favorite pitch was from MountainLogic. The idea is interesting—conserving energy through adaptive heating and cooling—but a lot is left unanswered about who is their target audience and how do they implement these systems into existing homes. One of the judges asked after the presentation how the user wouldn’t be left trying to override the system, and I have the same question. A lot of the solution seemed geared toward preheating rooms, but this inherently sounds wasteful, since people’s behaviors or patterns change. I see how a system like this would be beneficial for large homes, but how does it scale to small homes or apartments? How does this system utilize an owners existing heating/cooling source and vents? How is this system better than the Nest, which actively shows energy consumption and helps teach the user such things such as setting the thermostat higher won’t heat a person’s home any faster? The Nest seems like a much simpler and cheaper system to implement than trying to reconfigure every room with an adaptive system.
Additional reading: Scott Berkun’s “How to Pitch”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzg1myO3qa1qzhohco1_1280.jpg)
[Business of Design] - Response 4: Pitch
Blog on your most favorite and your least favorite pitch from “Eleven Startup Pitches”– tell us what specifically you like about your most favorite pitch and what you dislike about your least favorite.
My favorite pitch out the eleven was from the speaker for Apptentive. I thought he stated both the problem and his company’s solution clearly, and what it means for both the customer and the developer on the other side. He had a working prototype, and addressed concerns regarding ease of implementation as well as application across a broad range of popular operating systems. The idea itself is strong because it can provide a direct connection between the user and the developer within any application. That means the user doesn’t have to spend extra time going to a website for contact/support information, or perhaps writing a critical review that may or may not be seen by the developer.
My least favorite pitch was from MountainLogic. The idea is interesting—conserving energy through adaptive heating and cooling—but a lot is left unanswered about who is their target audience and how do they implement these systems into existing homes. One of the judges asked after the presentation how the user wouldn’t be left trying to override the system, and I have the same question. A lot of the solution seemed geared toward preheating rooms, but this inherently sounds wasteful, since people’s behaviors or patterns change. I see how a system like this would be beneficial for large homes, but how does it scale to small homes or apartments? How does this system utilize an owners existing heating/cooling source and vents? How is this system better than the Nest, which actively shows energy consumption and helps teach the user such things such as setting the thermostat higher won’t heat a person’s home any faster? The Nest seems like a much simpler and cheaper system to implement than trying to reconfigure every room with an adaptive system.
Additional reading: Scott Berkun’s “How to Pitch”
![[Business of Design] - Response 3
Blog on which business model area you find most challenging and why. What are you going to do to overcome this challenge?
In the article Innovating Across the Business Model, by Peter Skarzynksi and Rowan Gibson, you will find a very accessible definition and breakdown of what is a business model— essentially it is “a conceptual framework that describes how a company creates, delivers and extracts value.”
The authors here simply break the framework into five key components: who you serve, what you serve, how you provide it, how you make money, and how you differentiate and sustain an advantage. The questions each pose is best illustrated in Figure-1 above.
If I had to pick the one area I find most challenging, I would choose the middle one, how do we provide it? because this to me clearly ventures out of the designer realm, of which I am most familiar with. All the other questions are questions I consider a designer would actually be quite good at in figuring out. The money one sticks out a bit, but as shy as some designers might be about numbers, I believe most are familiar with the different payment models out there, at least when it comes to popular consumer industries.
The how do we provide it? component can be scary to me as a designer because it really lifts something that is otherwise a concept to something that can be a reality. This is a huge and powerful transition that makes a core idea feasible in regards to human capability (money and sustainability still need to be worked out of course). There are so many different ways to provide a service, product, or system, and I wonder if providing answers to those really require a higher level of experience and expertise.
As a designer, I am often in the land of vision, ideas, and human experience. I identify most with the areas that touch the customer most. I think the key business model components of who we serve, what we provide, how we make money, and how do we differentiate ourselves from others in the eyes of the consumer make up a huge part of the experience the customer can see. How we provide it is also important to the customer experience because it ultimately supports it, but I think most of it goes, or should go, unnoticed by the customer.
To overcome this challenge best, I would need to be thrown into actually seeing a service, product, or system to reality. I don’t think there’s anything better than real experience, and I think real experience is necessary because other people need to be invested in the solution. Otherwise, conversations stay at a high level and it all just still remains an idea…
Alternatively, it would be highly beneficial for me to speak with people who have recently tackled this question and realized it. Startups come to mind, but I’m sure consultancies have certain systems themselves they enact to provide common answers. If I were starting up a business myself, I would definitely seek help or a partner in this area. From a manufacturing standpoint, I know my father would be able to provide a wealth of knowledge from his experience. He also has dealt with suppliers abroad, which can be advantageous to know in an age of outsourcing and mass production.
Image and content source: Innovating Across the Business Model - excerpted from A Blueprint for Transforming the Way Your Company Innovates by Peter Skarzynksi, Rowan Gibson](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz32tlFzHz1qzhohco1_1280.jpg)
[Business of Design] - Response 3
Blog on which business model area you find most challenging and why. What are you going to do to overcome this challenge?
In the article Innovating Across the Business Model, by Peter Skarzynksi and Rowan Gibson, you will find a very accessible definition and breakdown of what is a business model— essentially it is “a conceptual framework that describes how a company creates, delivers and extracts value.”
The authors here simply break the framework into five key components: who you serve, what you serve, how you provide it, how you make money, and how you differentiate and sustain an advantage. The questions each pose is best illustrated in Figure-1 above.
If I had to pick the one area I find most challenging, I would choose the middle one, how do we provide it? because this to me clearly ventures out of the designer realm, of which I am most familiar with. All the other questions are questions I consider a designer would actually be quite good at in figuring out. The money one sticks out a bit, but as shy as some designers might be about numbers, I believe most are familiar with the different payment models out there, at least when it comes to popular consumer industries.
The how do we provide it? component can be scary to me as a designer because it really lifts something that is otherwise a concept to something that can be a reality. This is a huge and powerful transition that makes a core idea feasible in regards to human capability (money and sustainability still need to be worked out of course). There are so many different ways to provide a service, product, or system, and I wonder if providing answers to those really require a higher level of experience and expertise.
As a designer, I am often in the land of vision, ideas, and human experience. I identify most with the areas that touch the customer most. I think the key business model components of who we serve, what we provide, how we make money, and how do we differentiate ourselves from others in the eyes of the consumer make up a huge part of the experience the customer can see. How we provide it is also important to the customer experience because it ultimately supports it, but I think most of it goes, or should go, unnoticed by the customer.
To overcome this challenge best, I would need to be thrown into actually seeing a service, product, or system to reality. I don’t think there’s anything better than real experience, and I think real experience is necessary because other people need to be invested in the solution. Otherwise, conversations stay at a high level and it all just still remains an idea…
Alternatively, it would be highly beneficial for me to speak with people who have recently tackled this question and realized it. Startups come to mind, but I’m sure consultancies have certain systems themselves they enact to provide common answers. If I were starting up a business myself, I would definitely seek help or a partner in this area. From a manufacturing standpoint, I know my father would be able to provide a wealth of knowledge from his experience. He also has dealt with suppliers abroad, which can be advantageous to know in an age of outsourcing and mass production.
Image and content source: Innovating Across the Business Model - excerpted from A Blueprint for Transforming the Way Your Company Innovates by Peter Skarzynksi, Rowan Gibson
Design has changed. Designers, not quite.
Here are a few considerations for designers as they integrate more with business and the way business is done. Embrace non-designers by being more open and accessible.
This is in response to more required reading for my Business of Design class.
Required reading for my Business of Design class. This one is a good one. These were the highlights for me:
As a result, many 20th century organizations succeeded by instituting fairly linear improvements, such as re-engineering, supply chain management, enhanced customer responsiveness, and cost controls.These ideas were consistent with the traditional Taylorist view of the company as a centrally-driven entity that creates wealth by getting better and better at doing the same thing.
Competition is no longer in global scale- intensive industries; rather, it’s in non-traditional, imagination-intensive industries. Today’s businesses are sensing an increased demand for speed in product development, design cycles, inventory turns, and competitive response, and there are major implica- tions for the individuals within those organizations. I would argue that in the 21st century, value creation will be defined more by the conversion of mysteries to heuristics – and that as a result, we are on the cusp of a design revolution in business.
We start out with these mysteries, and at some point, we put enough thought into them to produce a first-level understanding of the question at hand.We develop heuristics – ways of understanding the general principles of heretofore mysteries. Heuristics are rules of thumb or sets of guidelines for solving a mystery by organized exploration of the possibilities.
In the modern era, a fourth important step has been added to the sequence of mystery to heuristic to algorithm. Eventually, some algorithms now get coded into software. This means reducing the algorithm – the strict set of rules – into a series of 0’s and 1’s – binary code
The skill of design, at its core, is the ability to reach into the mystery of some seemingly intractable problem – whether it’s a problem of product design, architectural design, or systems design – and apply the creativity, innovation and mastery necessary to convert the mystery to a heuristic – a way of knowing and understanding.
Required reading for Business of Design class, Spring 2012.
Source: Fast Company
